Rachel Beanland
Author Interview - Rachel Beanland
Author of Florence Adler Swims Forever
Florence Adler is a 20-year-old champion swimmer who returns home to Atlantic City in June of 1934, intent on swimming the English Channel by summer’s end. When she drowns on a routine training swim, her family makes the decision to keep her death a secret from her sister, Fannie, who has had a difficult pregnancy and is on bed rest at the local hospital. This secret and its effect on the characters becomes the backdrop against which other secrets are slowly revealed.
Author Interview - Rachel Beanland
Author I draw inspiration from: Anyone who gets up and writes, day in and day out. Establishing a career as an author is such a long game, and I’m in awe of anyone who has found a way to ignore their own fear and doubt and remain focused on producing the best work possible.
Favorite place to read a book: I’ve spent the last two years reading a lot of books on my couch or in bed, but pre-pandemic I remember a pretty epic afternoon at a little outdoor bar in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood. I had Curtis Sittenfeld’s short story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It in one hand and an Aperol spritz in the other, and I thought THIS IS ALRIGHT;-)
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Rachel Price in Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible. She’s clueless but she’s also an open book, which makes her kind of refreshing, or at the very least, entertaining. I have no doubt the time would fly by.
Author Interview - Rachel Beanland | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: I’ve loved reading and writing since I was a kid, but it took me a long time to realize real people could become authors. Even after I sold my first novel, it was a weird leap to make… thinking of myself as an author. What I’ve always known is that I want to keep writing for as long as I live.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: Hardbacks for books I suspect I’m going to want to keep, paperbacks for the beach or the bath, ebooks for when I’m flying anywhere, and audiobooks for long road trips with my kids.
The last book I read: Seven Days in June by Tia Williams. I’m a sucker for novels about novelists.
Author Interview - Rachel Beanland | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer: Computer, all the way, sadly. A lot of my writer friends turn to pen and paper when they want to think about their story from a different perspective, and I wish I could do it, but all I wind up scribbling are to-do lists.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Mr. Hosokawa in Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto. I read the book years ago, and I’m still thinking about him.
Author Interview - Rachel Beanland | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: working for a non-profit. Before Florence Adler Swims Forever sold, I worked for the Visual Arts Center of Richmond—a community arts center that remains near and dear to my heart. If the writing hadn’t panned out, I’d probably still be there.
Favorite decade in fashion history: The book I’m writing now is set in 1811, which is the same year Sense & Sensibility came out, if you want to get a quick sense of the time period. The women are wearing these beautiful Greco-inspired gowns and the guys are carrying sword canes and tying fancy cravats around their necks. It’s all very fanciful and fun.
Place I’d most like to travel: Ethiopia. My oldest daughter was adopted from Ethiopia, and we had promised her we’d take her back when she turned 12. The pandemic derailed that plan, but when it’s safe to go, I can’t wait to see the country through her eyes.
My signature drink: Coffee when I’m writing in the mornings, Diet Coke when I’m writing in the afternoons, herbal tea at night when I’m reading in bed.
Favorite artist: I’m on a Caamp kick. I also love the Lumineers and Leon Bridges.
Number one on my bucket list: I want to walk the Camino de Santiago with my kids—before they get too old to want to walk anywhere with me!
Anything else you'd like to add: Thanks so much, this was fun!
Find more from the author:
Instagram - @rachelbeanland
Twitter - @rachelbeanland
Author Bio: Rachel Beanland is the author of Florence Adler Swims Forever, which was released in July 2020 by Simon & Schuster. The book was selected as a Barnes & Noble Book Club pick and was named a Featured Debut by Amazon and an Indie Next pick by the American Booksellers Association. It was also named a New York Times Editors’ Choice and was recognized with the 2020 National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction. Rachel received her MFA in fiction from Virginia Commonwealth University and lives in Richmond where she is at work on her second novel.
